Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on April 19 commended Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's decision to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq stating, "It is a sensible judgment."

At a press conference in the Diet building, Ichida pointed out that an increasing number of governments that have deployed troops in Iraq are either bringing them home or reviewing their deployment policy.

Pointing out that in addition to the continuing the illegal occupation of Iraq, the U.S. forces are carrying out indiscriminate killings of Iraqi people in Fallujah in violation of International Humanitarian Law, Ichida said, "Japan's subservience to the U.S. in sticking to the deployment of the Self-Defense Forces is being called into question." (end)